On 3D Printing » digital recycling

Students at University of Washington have achieved two amazing feats: 1) 3D print a 7-foot boat, and 2) use recycled milk cartons as the raw materials for the print.

The students are part of an organization called the University of Washington Fabbers, and used a large, custom-designed 3D printer in the UW’s Mechanical Engineering Building. The completed boat was raced at the annual Milk Carton Derby at Green Lake in Seattle.

The new UW student club, Washington Open Object Fabricators (or WOOF), built the boat as its inaugural project. They spent the last two months researching, engineering, extruding, printing, and dumpster diving for the greater good, and eventually produced a 40 lbs (~250 1 gallon milk jugs) “canoeyak” capable of supporting 150lbs.

The club aimed to be the first to print a seaworthy craft, but the judges of the Derby weren’t sure what to make of their creation. Qualification was a problem as the engineers had used recycled milk cartons for its buoyancy, but not quite in the way that contest organizers had originally envisioned. It was eventually decided that the boat should be entered as “an unofficial entry in the adult open category” — it placed second in the race.

Speaking to Phys.org, faculty adviser Mark Ganter, professor of mechanical engineering, said that printing a boat “was a historic first.”

“Frankly, milk jug material is an awful material to work with,” Ganter said. “It shrinks, it curls, it doesn’t want to stick to itself. Overcoming all those parts of the problem was part of the achievement.”

Via inhabitat.com.

Explaining the Future: The 3D Printing Revolution by Christopher Barnatt [Video]

on3dprinting — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 06:05:12 +0000

Christopher Barnatt of ExplainingTheFuture.com discusses 3D printing of today and where the technology is headed in this primer video.

Key topics in the video:

Additive product creation
3d printing applications: eyewear, shoes, chocolate
Digital designs marketplaces
Local manufacturing and reduced shipping costs
Reduced waste in the manufacturing process
Decomposition and digital recycling
Open-source hardware designs and DIY
Low-cost 3D printers targeted at mainstream consumers